


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



00002733=100 



% 



■ /.'i-;«k-% <.°*.i^^.>o /yjMiL-X co*.^-'. 




^-^0^ 













• %V^ 



^P•7!.- '. 




e 



*^ o. 



- '^bV* 










,• >> -^ . %-^^-. ^^ 






<*. 



^" "'>. 








»oV^ 




"V. 



* * . « • aO 'tf* * 9 « O ' 






^^•^^. 






•^"^ .*: 



J/h o aT ^*3 


























>^^A^ '^^. A^ 













iv 






lO^ '^^^ 



'.^^ 









5^; 


























;^'« 












• 








,0~ . * * * ' 


y> '. ' 










•\ .^-*><0-fc-' 






o 




'^^o 








c 




a» 








« 


.'^ 


.^'- 




.^' 


'^^ 
\ 



••/% v^^ ..„ % 



^0 c^j:."*. "^o 












^^^' '^' 



CJ9 






/. ''^^ Q^ O 






<C^^^ 















<P " » 



■&1^ 

¥ SMUl.lUJJ.lJii i Wlll,i..)J ' -lM, , > . < IJ ' l .4 I , III ■ II , Ij i 



A 



NAVAL LITERATURE 

By CAPTAIN JOHN S. BARNES 




Reprinted from the Proceedings of the United 

States Naval Institute, Volume XXIX, 

No. 2, Whole No. 106. 



MaMaMMWMiMBnMII 



[COPTKIGHTED.] 

U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD. 



NAVAL LITERATURE.* 
By Captain John S. Barnes. 



I hope that it is fully understood that I am not here in the role 
of instructor. The modern ship of war and its instruments of 
destruction, with which you are familiar are unknown to me, 
and were unknown in the school in which I passed my early 
life. Captain Chadwick is mainly if not wholly responsible for 
my appearance, and you must put the blame of perhaps wasted 
minutes upon him. You have all heard how my old friend and 
classmate, George H. Perkins, shifted the responsibility of an 
overstayed leave of absence for which he was being overhauled 
by Captain Godon, his commanding officer — Perkins was his 
executive — Commodore Stringham the Commandant of the 
Navy Yard. Something went wrong — the Navy Department 
complained to Stringham, who sent for Godon; he was absent. 
He sent for Perkins; he was absent. The Commodore com- 
plained to Godon, and naturally Godon fell upon Perkins, ab- 
sent without leave, and Perkins suggested to Godon, " suppose 
we put all the responsibility off on old Stringham." This brings 
me to say that if any of you have not read Captain Geo. H. Per- 
kins' Autobiography, edited by his sister, you have a treat before 
you, and it also leads me to anticipate Captain Chadwick's apol- 
ogy for my presence here. A year or two ago he did me the 
honor of a personal visit, and I had great pleasure in showing 
him that while out of the navy for many years, I had not lost 
my interest in it, and as proof, I placed before him a few of 
the results of upwards of thirty-five years' work in industriously 

* Lecture delivered at the Naval War College, 1902. 



334 NAVAL LITERATLRE. 

collecting books, manuscripts and prints, relating to the navy 
of the United States. 

You all know what a " collector " is — or at least you have 
heard of him — perhaps some of you are collectors, and know 
the joys, hopes and fears which animate him in the pursuit of his 
peculiar fad. It runs to all sorts and kinds of things — from the 
costliest to the most insignificant. Perhaps the collection of 
books, autographs, manuscripts and prints relating to special 
subjects has a larger number of votaries and victims than 
any other form of this disease. There are certain branches 
of it which are costly and beyond the reach of the collector of 
moderate means. But any indulgence, when it is carried on 
persistently is sure to lead to what people without sympathy call 
extravagance. The first attack of the fever is generally of a 
mild form — it is usually caught by exposure to or by contact 
with some fully developed case. It is both contagious and 
infectious, and is primarily allayed by the occasional purchase 
of old out-of-print books picked up at second-hand book stores. 
The mind grows by what it feeds upon, and from old books one 
runs readily to old prints and thence to autographs and manu- 
scripts relating to the special pursuit. The fever gradually be- 
comes intense, fixed and incurable and takes on the last and fatal 
stage of illustration and binding. 

Soon after leaving the navy in 1868, I came into personal con- 
tact with Dr. Emmett of New York, through the introduction 
of Mr, T. Bailey Myers, whom some of you will remember and 
all of you will recognize as the father of the late Commander 
Theodore Mason. Dr. Emmett was a famous collector of 
" Americana " and possessed at the time of my introduction to 
him the largest and most complete library relating to the history 
of America then in existence. It numbered many thousand vol- 
umes, nearly all rebound by famous binders in this country and 
in London and Paris. His extra-illustrated books, enriched 
by autograph letters and original documents, and rare and 
curious prints were there by the hundreds. In this particular 
branch his library had no equal in this country, all devoted to 
the subject — America, His collections of manuscripts and 
prints relating to the discovery of the continent, its early settle- 
ment, voyages and travels, the Indian wars and Colonial period, 
the Revolution, were wonderfully complete. He had devoted 






NAVAL LITERATURE. 335 

forty years of his life to this one object. With a great and lucra- 
tive practice, living a modest, retiring life and with an ample 
inheritance, his income for years and patrimony, beyond his 
living expenses, were stored upon shelves in the form of paper 
and ink. His private hospital, famous in its time, was gradually 
being encroached upon to make place for his treasures. Room 
after room, piled from floor to ceiling in a building that an hour's 
conflagration would reduce to ashes. It was in this library that 
I caught the disease mildly, without the remotest kind of desire 
to emulate or attempt such a stupendous work. Mr. Myers 
also was a collector of no small degree, and had at his death a 
small but unique collection of books and prints, which came to 
his son. Commander Theodore Mason, and upon his death, his 
mother and sister presented it to the New Tilden Astor and 
Lenox Library Association, where they will form a most charm- 
ing and delightful alcove in what will be the greatest public 
library in this country. Dr. Emmett has sold only a part of his 
collection for $150,000 and it now reposes securely in the Lenox 
Library. 

Well, I made many visits and spent hours in Dr. Emmett's 
library, my temperature rising higher and higher with every 
visit. I noted that the Doctor had here and there a book, a 
few prints, and some manuscripts relating to the Colonial and 
Revolutionary navy, but the navy of the United States seemed 
to me to play but a very unimportant and unsignalized part of 
the great collection, and I said to myself, and later to the Doctor 
and to Myers, " I must make some sort of a collection. I shall 
go for the navy, it is grossly neglected by the American people 
now-a-days." Early education and training stand for something; 
old associations stand with me for a great deal. Tlie good 
Doctor altho" professionally a curer of disease, in this instance, 
propagated it, and from that time on injected into my port-folios 
numerous exclusively naval items that he had found no special 
place for. 

I rummaged the old second-hand book stores, then concen- 
trated for the most part in Nassau street. I spent hours of every 
available day out of business, searching for old naval histories, 
biographies, books written by naval officers, voyages of naval 
ships — I found, at first, that no one had ever undertaken such a 
collection and at comparatively small expense I got together 



336 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

in a few years several hundreds of volumes, of which I dare say, 
very few of you are aware of the existence, all relating to our 
dear old navy. I also accumulated prints, portraits of naval of- 
ficers and in the natural gradation of the fever that was in me, 
autographs. In a few years I became known amongst dealers 
in this sort of merchandise. Catalogues of libraries for sale, of 
autographs and manuscripts and auction sales poured in upon 
me — ^wherever there was a single item relating to naval affairs. 
Then I went abroad and resided in Holland, at Amsterdam and 
Antwerp, off and on for several years on business matters. I 
found in Holland — particularly in Amsterdam, a perfect gold mine 
of our old Revolutionary navy ; books, prints and manuscripts. 
Frederich Mueller, then an old man over eighty-five years, an 
antiquarian, was at the head of the firm which for more than a 
century had for its business old books and manuscripts. He 
had made a specialty of Americana, so far as Holland was con- 
cerned or interested in the war of our Independence. He was 
very jealous of them, did not expose them for sale, and had not 
at that time included them in his yearly catalogues, which are 
marvels of information and much sought after to-day. I finally 
succeeded in inducing him to part with some of his most valu- 
able items of the Revolutionary period — letters, prints and old 
books — several, I may say, a number, of most curious publica- 
tions in Dutch, French and English, relating to the naval oper- 
ations of the so-called Colonial ships in English waters, together 
with a unique lot of copper plate engravings — portraits and 
scenes of action of the Ranger and Bon Homme Richard, the 
Surprise and Revenge, some of them unique. 

You may reasonably imagine that by this time my recovery 
from the fever was hopeless — I have it still and shall have it 
until the end. 

On my return from Holland I went into what is considered 
the last stages — this was twenty-five years ago, — and com- 
menced the illustration feature. I looked around for the best 
— that is to say — the handsomest edition of Cooper's History of 
the American Navy, and where do you think I found it ? — in Lon- 
don, published by Richard Bently, in two volumes octavo — a 
large paper copy with wide margins printed on fine paper and 
in clear type. The American editions were poorly printed on 
cheap flimsy paper — sometimes in one volume and again in two. 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 337 

There is also a French edition published in Paris — curiously 
enough printed in English. Having selected the book, I had 
it torn into sheets or pages, and enlarged by Trent on What- 
man's drawing paper to folio size — between these pages thus 
enlarged I commenced the insertion of prints and manuscripts — 
portraits of every person mentioned, autographs and letters of 
every one, prints of all battles — of all ships, of all places, sea- 
ports and maps — newspaper reports of the period. There are 
very few men whose names are mentioned by Cooper of whom I 
have not in some way secured either the portrait or the autograph 
letter — all letters, prints, maps, inlaid, laid down and mounted 
to folio. The modest pile of enlarged sheets grew to large 
volume. By handling in such a detached condition there re- 
sulted some deterioration and ten years ago I made up my 
mind to bind them, although I felt that there remained much 
to be added. I sent the sheets with their additions to Brad- 
street and the result is eight volumes folio, with separate illum- 
inated title pages out of the two volumes octavo, and since 
then I have the material for at least four more folio volumes. 
They are bound in pigskin in the highest art of American bind- 
ing, with cases for each volume lined with sheepskin, and while 
to talk of the cost of anything which one possesses is admittedly 
vulgar, it may be instructive to know that the binding cost up- 
wards of $400, and the cost of this series has been in the neigh- 
borhood of $15,000. I have always regretted that I bound these 
books, for since the time when the collection was, as I thought, 
reasonably complete, there has come to me in various ways such a 
wonderful lot of papers that should be inserted in their appro- 
priate places in the text, that I am compelled to put them in ap- 
pendices — I suppose it will never end. Unfortunately these late 
acquisitions are the most interesting and valuable. For years 
I was on the lookout for a good autograph letter of Commodore 
Barry and of Captain Conyngham and was obliged to con- 
tent myself with several unimportant and uninteresting auto- 
graphs of the former, while of the latter there was not a scrap of 
his writing anywhere to be found, although I had from Mueller 
in Amsterdam a splendid folio portrait of him, a copper plate 
absolutely unique, no other impression of the plate being known. 
The lettering of the plate designating him as " Le Terrior des 
Anglais." I also procured from Mueller several other portrait 



338 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

prints of Conyngham, which will be found in the collection, and 
several scenes of his exploits in the English Channel. A por- 
trait drawn by some Dutch artist and struck up in the English 
coffee house in Dunkirk and another showing the English fleet 
sailing off before the wind, with Conyngham pursuing in a 
small vessel with a rooster crowing on his shoulder under a 
flag, supposed to be the flag of the revolted colonies, which was 
adopted by Paul Jones and by this almost unknown hero of our 
early navy. These prints created in my mind a great desire to 
know more of him than appeared in the histories of our navy, 
but it seemed impossible to find any trace of him beyond what 
appeared in Cooper, and of course an autograph was appar- 
ently as impossible an acquisition as that of Rameses the First. 
I dwell somewhat upon Conyngham, this unknown Captain, for 
the reason that one of my greatest joys as a collector of naval 
MSS. is connected with him. 

Cooper relates his exploits in the English Channel in a small 
vessel which he purchased in England, called The Surprise. He 
captured several English vessels and brought them or sent them 
into Dunkirk. The English government complained. The 
prizes were released and Conyngham imprisoned as a pirate 
for cruising without a commission from any recognized gov- 
ernment or authority. Conyngham claimed that he was reg- 
ularly commissioned by the Continental Congress as a captain 
in the navy, that he had sent his commission to Paris to be 
viseed by the then representatives of the revolted colonies — 
Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, but it had 
never been restored to him. To make a long story short, 
Conyngham narrowly escaped being delivered over to the Eng- 
lish and hanged as a pirate. He was undoubtedly an Irishman, 
and had never been naturalized, and like Paul Jones, fought 
with a halter around his neck. Cooper states that, as a result 
of his researches regarding Conyngham, he thought that he 
was commissioned as a captain by one of the commissions sent 
out to Benjamin Franklin in blank, both as to ship and name — 
leaving Franklin to fill out the blank spaces ; but the document 
being lost and no others having been found, there was no proof 
of the fact, beyond Conyngham's statements, which if true, 
made of him the earliest commissioned naval officer of the Con- 
tinental navy. Conyngham's history is a romance; I cannot 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 339 

take time to give it to you now but will refer you to his biog- 
raphy, which will soon appear in print, written by a gentleman 
with whom I am connected by marriage — founded upon papers 
which have curiously come into my possession. For your pres- 
ent interest, however, I am dealing with this lost commission of 
Conyngham. A few years ago I received a printed French 
catalogue of autographs oflfered for sale by Charavay, a dealer 
in such wares in Paris. I have received hundreds of such cata- 
logues from all parts of the world — I always study them, or look 
them over for Americana, and occasionally order sent to me 
such items which seem attractive if they relate to early American 
history. Amongst hundreds of items, I came across in this 
catalogue — one which translated from the French reads: 

" Hancock, (John) — Document signed celebrated American 
statesman. Gov"" of Mass"^ Signer of the declaration of Inde- 
pendence : Puce signed as President of Congress — Baltimore i. 
March, 1777. i p. in fol. obi. 90 f." Suffice it to say that I 
ordered it sent to me, without any other interest or idea re- 
garding it than that created by the description in the catalogued 
list. It came duly to hand through a dealer in New York 
and what was my astonishment to find that it was the lost 
commission of Conyngham, For 125 years it had been buried 
somewhere in Paris. Its existence doubted; its loss nearly cost 
Conyngham his life, and ultimately his loss of compensation for 
his prizes, for which he demanded year after year relief from 
Congress. Because he could not produce the evidence of his, 
it must be admitted, irregular commission by the Continental 
Congress. Still it was a genuine commission as full and as 
complete as under the extraordinary circumstances of the period 
could have been executed or issued. If your curiosity is at 
all aroused, I beg that you will look at this old document, 
read its heading, and then possibly you can understand why it 
excited me. But I am not wholly done with Conyngham. 
After I got this collector's treasure, the fact become known 
amongst collectors, and to my intense surprise, there arose from 
an obscure town in Pennsylvania a person distantly related to 
Conyngham who possessed a great lot of his papers, letters, jour- 
nals, documents, accounts of prizes, applications for relief to Con- 
gress, reports of Committees, letters of Alexander Hamilton, 
Secretary of the Treasury, correspondence and no end of 



340 NAVAL LITERATURE, 

autograph letters of Conyngham, including his daily journal 
during his imprisonment, in Dartmouth and Mill prisons, in his 
own handwriting. You may be sure that I did not hesitate to 
take the lot at the price named by its owner, A few years 
before I would given the same price for a single authenticated 
signature. Now any man possessed of the fever and earnestly 
engaged in the pursuit I shall be happy to supply with the auto- 
graph signature of " Gustavus Conyngham," I have a hundred of 
them, more or less, but I have the complacent reflection that no 
one else has a scrap of that old Revolutionary hero's handwriting 
in his possession. His early education had been neglected and 
his orthography was unique, but expressive — unlike Paul Jones, 
who got his education God knows where, or how — he had not 
the gift of elegant phraseology and was a poor penman, but he 
was honest, truthful and brave — faced many dangers beyond 
that of battle, and died poor and unrequited, mainly from the loss 
of this commission and his inability to produce it. I think all 
his relatives or descendants, except of the remotest degree, have 
passed into oblivion. 

I now come to Commodore John Barry of the early Conti- 
nental navy. I have some hesitation in talking about him, be- 
cause I am in some degree related to him by marriage only — 
so that when the new torpedo-boat destroyer Barry was ready 
to take her dip into the water, from the shipyard in which she 
was built, my daughter was discovered by the Naval Intelligence 
Bureau as the oldest unmarried female descendant of this old 
Revolutionary commander, for whom this modern example of 
naval construction was named and was invited and became her 
sponsor in baptism. For many years, notwithstanding the fact 
of this remote relationship, while I had found here, and in Hol- 
land, a number of very beautiful print portraits of Commodore 
Barry and had in my possession his original commission from 
Congress and President Washington and President Adams, also 
a commission to him signed by John Hancock, I had never been 
able to find any really interesting autograph letter written by 
and signed by him referring to his career or exploits during the 
war of the Revolution. There were none in the market, so to 
speak, — no collector, not even Dr, Emmett had any. He gave 
me a bill of lading signed by him, which I eagerly accepted. 
It is bound in my Illustrated Naval History with several doubt- 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 34I 

fill scraps bearing his doubtful signature. I was mortified and 
perplexed that in connection with the one man of the Revol- 
utionary navy in regard to whom I might naturally be supposed 
to have a personal interest, or upon whom my children could 
base a claim of Revolutionary descendancy, I could not find a 
word of his handwriting, beyond a doubtful signature to a 
printed document, and an unimportant letter supposed to be 
written by him upon some personal business and for which I 
paid a high price and regarded as unique. You may perhaps 
figure to yourselves, if you have any interest in such matters, 
my great astonishment to receive from a Philadelphia firm 
about two years ago, a catalogue of autograph letters, which 
included in its numbers several hundreds of Commodore Barry's 
letters to and from him to be offered for sale at auction on a day 
or days fixed by the announcement. There were letters to and 
from him to General Washington and Lafayette, from Paul 
Jones and to Paul Jones, to and from Nicholson and from a great 
number of officers of the Revolutionary navy and of the immediate 
period following the recognition of our Independence. I read over 
the catalogue with its brief descriptions of the contents of the 
more important letters — great lots were undescribed and num- 
bered by lot — 50 pieces — 20 pieces — 10 pieces. Tliey com- 
prised a trunk full of the old Commodore's papers — bills and re- 
ceipts — his letters from his wife — copies of his answers, curious 
old documents — letters from and to his relatives in Ireland, for 
he like Conyngham was an Irishman by birth. The reading of 
the catalogue raised my collector's temperature to the hurricane 
pitch. I had paid large sums for the most insignificant scraps 
of his handwriting, and here was his epistolary hfe laid out for 
sale to any one who without any particular interest, could ob- 
tain probably any number of his letters for a song. 

There were only two days before the auction sale commenced. 
I was in Lenox — I could not discriminate or select — the mail 
was too slow — I had resort to the telegraph and I sent Sabin, 
who acts for such diseased persons as myself. " Buy all the 
Barry correspondence for my account without limit." He of 
course attended the sale which lasted for three days. There 
were a great lot of autographs besides the " Barry correspond- 
ence." My principal competitors were the agents of the Con- 
gressional Library, the Lenox — and other historical collectors — 



342 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

and prices and bids mounted to high figures for the choice auto- 
graphs, but Sabin, with a perfectly unwarranted beUef in my 
solvency or accountability, and in the pride and obstinacy which 
prevails at auction sales, carried off the lot — was the hero of the 
sale at my expense — I can only add that I don't regret it, altho' 
I have hardly yet gone through the great mass of old Com- 
modore Barry's papers, which have come to me. It is full of 
surprises covering the period of the old Commodore's private 
life and family connections in Ireland; his private family life in 
this his adopted country, his services in the Continental and 
Revolutionary navy — his service in the quasi French war, the 
building of the frigate United States under his supervision — 
letters from General Washington, Lafayette, Paul Jones, prize 
lists, accounts of the various actions in which he was engaged, 
a singularly curious correspondence, letters and answers to and 
from Commodore Samuel Nicholson, in regard to the preten- 
sions of the chevalier Paul Jones; in his petition to Congress to 
be made the ranking commodore of the new navy of the United 
States, and the means taken to defeat his pretensions and the 
success of them which finally resulted in Barry being the first 
commissioned captain of the United States navy, Paul Jones' re- 
tirement in disgust and his going to Europe and taking service 
with the Russians. 

I may say here in passing, that I agree with the historians 
that Paul Jones was the romantic character of our Revolutionary 
navy, and his battles with the Ranger and Bon Homme Richard 
are almost without parallel in single combats of ships of that 
or any other period. Buell has made of him one of the most 
interesting characters of the Revolution, and there is no one 
who figured in that memorable contest who to-day is so gen- 
erally known and made a hero of. He had the gift of express- 
ing himself in writing, and he wrote the English language cor- 
rectly: of all prominent men on our side he was the most vol- 
uminous writer, except perhaps George Washington — unlike 
him, however, he did not hide his light — he had the " fever of 
writing " and wrote to every one in authority wherever he found 
himself, and generally upon the subject of himself. He made 
many private relations of his own exploits and claims for the 
recognition of his own merits and for reward. Naturally enough 
I have made great effort to collect Paul Jones — his writings — 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 343 

his portrait — the scenes of his actions and the numerous memoirs 
and biographies — they are in great number. The Hves are in 
EngUsh, French and Dutch. He is denominated smuggler, 
pirate, corsair, as well as naval hero. The descriptions of his char- 
acter vary, all attribute to him at sea great courage and de- 
termination arising from different causes, some say that he was 
not so courageous on land — the French author, who of all hia 
biographers seems alone to have known him personally and in- 
timately, says that he repeatedly refused duels, was shy of his 
creditors, and otherwise draws an unfavorable picture of his 
personal characteristics and morals. Later biographers have 
given much of his voluminous correspondence, and based their 
estimates of him upon it, and upon his great combats in the 
Ranger and Bon Homme Richard. Of all the Revolutionary 
naval commanders his name stands pre-eminent and is best 
known. He is the only one of that period who wrote letters, 
and had the gift of expressing himself correctly in good Eng- 
hsh, whose letters are preserved and have become part of the 
archives of the government, while a great many are included in 
the private collections of collectors. For many years however, 
the letters of Paul Jones have from time to time come upon the 
market and always fetch the highest prices of Revolutionary 
autographs at auction sales, or at private sales. 

I have a number of them; some bound in my Illustrated Naval 
History — I intended to have had the pleasure of showing you 
here one of special interest, which does not appear in any of his 
biographies or memoirs, which at a competitive sale I secured 
at a cost of $250. 

At the same time, I purposed showing you the original log 
book of the Serapis commenced on that prize to the Bon Homme 
Richard, when Paul Jones and his officers and crew left their 
sinking ship, took possession of their enemy and brought her 
safely to port. The only instance I believe in all naval annals 
of such a feat. You may have some curiosity to know how 
this record has been preserved and is handed down from gen- 
eration to generation. It is useless to go into the story of that 
most memorable fight — you all have read about it — and those 
of you who have been in sea fights, or are familiar with their 
recitals can appreciate the confusion of that yard-arm to yard- 
arm battle, between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, 



344 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

In the abandonment of their sinking ship, some one, possibly 
Richard Dale or his clerk Fanning carried, with other effects, 
the blank book of Lieutenant Lunt on board the Serapis. The 
log book of the Bon Homme Richard went down with her — 
but with a care which does credit to Dale or his clerk, the 
official record of the action and the official record of the prize, 
the list of the officers and men who survived, and the record of 
her repair and safe bringing into port under jury masts and her 
final disposition and the disposition of the English prisoners 
of war are in this log book carefully preserved. The same 
book contains the log of the Alliance and the Ariel both kept by 
Richard Dale, in all of these ships Paul Jones' ist lieutenant 
or executive officer. In the Ariel Paul Jones finally reached the 
United States — Commodore Dale retained the log books. Both 
Paul Jones and Dale left the government service for reasons which 
seemed good to them, generally speaking because they thought 
their services were not appreciated by promotion and emolu- 
ment. Jones went to Europe — Dale took out a letter of marque 
for a privateer called the Queen of France, named for Marie 
Antoinette, who had given Paul Jones and Dale interviews, 
and to whom both had at her request described their battles with 
the English ships. The log of the Queen of France will also 
be found included in the log book of the Serapis, the Alliance 
and the Ariel. It ends abruptly with the end of the war. 
The entries in the log are all in Commodore Dale's own hand- 
writing — Commodore Dale, as you all know, was restored to 
the regular navy after its reorganization and figures largely in 
the early history of the United States navy. His descendants, 
as happens in the ordinary usual course of our life here, became 
more or less necessitous or unappreciative of family records, 
and finding that this old historical document had a commercial 
value, sold it to a collector of Americana, Mr. S. L. M. Barlow, 
of New York, who held it for many years. Upon his death his 
library was catalogued and upon due notice and advertisement, 
offered for sale. I attended the sale, of course, which lasted for 
several days, and secured many books which bore upon our 
naval history — and there were manv of them, as well as many 
MSS. 

There was a most decided competition for the Paul Jones Log 
Book, so named and catalogued — the Congressional Library — 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 345 

the Lenox Library, several private collectors — all made bids 
for it — I was startled at the first bid of $500, but it ran up 
quickly to over $1000, before I could collect myself — there was 
a contest after that with Mr. Ogden Goelette, but I finally 
secured it at $1575, tucked it under my arm and with Goelette 
drove home together in his carriage, each mutually condemn- 
ing ourselves for our rivalry. I may say here that if it ever be- 
comes known, in Mr. Ogden Goelette's library will be found 
many rare books relating to early American history. He was, 
. in a way, a collector and had the means to indulge his fancy. 
But as to that there are many all over the country. This log 
book, in form and even in expression, is kept in the same man- 
ner that all sea log books were and, so far as I know, are still 
kept : Hours — Kts. — fthms — courses — remarks — commences, and 
until 4 A. M. — Lat. obsd. — Lat. D. R., — Long. obsd. and 
Long. D. R., etc., etc. The remarks cover the evolutions of the 
ship during the watches, the making and taking in sail, sound- 
ings and all the daily routine of a ship of war at sea hour by 
hour like all logs before and since. The remarks are occasion- 
ally enlivened by statements which give some insight as to man- 
ners and customs — notably one, when Midshipman Fanning on 
taking the barometer on the Alliance, during a heavy gale, the 
ship rolling heavily, lurched up against it and smashed it, where- 
upon Captain Jones jumped out of his berth, kicked Mr. Fan- 
ning out of the cabin, and followed him in his night dress, be- 
laboring him about the decks ! I doubt if such an occurrence is 
possible now-a-days, but its entry in the log, probably with the 
knowledge of the Captain, shows that in the Continental navy 
at that period it was a routine transaction, and officially ac- 
counted for the loss of the barometer, and at the same time recorded 
the punishment of the offender. I fancy barometers were scarce 
in those days. There are other evidences through the logs of 
these three ships commanded by Paul Jones, that his temper was 
not of the sweetest. 

The crew of the Bon Homme Richard, its numbers and na- 
tionalities has always been more or less a matter of discussion 
in the various fives of Paul Jones. Of course a great number 
of the killed and wounded in the battle with the Serapis went 
down in her — besides those killed who were cast into the deep 
during the fight. But Lieut. Dale in this book has entered the 



346 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

name and rating of every officer and man who formed the crew 
of the Serapis when the Bon Homme Richard sank and the 
place where each was recruited. This list was evidently kept 
as correctly as possible in view of claims for prize money — but 
as the Serapis was restored to the English, and the pris- 
oners released, the prize money claims were never adjusted, a 
fact which in connection with his failure to establish his claims 
for other prize money and for preferment, constituted the prin- 
cipal causes of Paul Jones' dissatisfaction, retirement from the 
United States service, and his seeking service with the Russians 
like the soldier of fortune that he was. 

Whatever may be said about him, he was the one romantic 
character of the war. He and his exploits are known to every 
schoolboy in the land. In the collection are two of his com- 
missions by the Continental Congress, and notwithstanding the 
fact that the great mass of his voluminous correspondence is 
amongst the archives of the Government in Washington, there 
are a number of his letters of a most interesting character in 
this and other collections which have never been published. 

The portraits of Paul Jones are very numerous. I do not 
refer to the modern ones, which have made every schoolboy fam- 
iliar with his features, but to those engraved and printed during 
his lifetime in England, Scotland, France and Holland: from 
some one or two of these have the modern engravers taken their 
inspiration as to features, and added such embellishments as 
their fancy suggested. Some of the contemporaneous portraits 
are exceedingly beautiful specimens of engraving and etching 
art and are rare and costly when found — indeed they do not 
exist outside of collectors' hands. I believe I have every known 
portrait of Paul Jones, and one if not two, of which I have 
never seen a duplicate. No officer of the Revolution was so 
frequently portrayed during the struggle for independence, not 
even George Washington. 

For the truth of history as served by illustration, I might 
mention that one of the commonest of the contemporaneous 
pictures of this hero, represents him in the act of shooting Lieut, 
Grubb, for attempting to haul down the American colors on the 
Bon Homme Richard. It exists in large folio — one of Car- 
rington & Bowles mezzotint engravings, colored, and in plain 
black and white, published as the act directs in 1778 — it exists 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 347 

in a dozen different forms, all of course fanciful. Grubb is 
called Lieutenant, Midshipman, and Gunner in the lettering — 
it is safe to say that no such occurrence took place. There was a 
Midshipman Grubb on the Bon Homme Richard; his name ap- 
pears in Lieut. Dale's list of officers on the Serapis. He accom- 
panied Commodore Jones to the Alliance and home in the Ariel. 
From that time he is lost in history, but he certainly never had 
the honor of being shot by Paul Jones — but illustration has for- 
ever connected his name with our Revolutionary struggle. 

As to the engravings which purport to represent the famous 
combat — and you will bear in mind that I am not referring to 
modern reproductions of illustrating artists and engravers — but 
the contemporaneous pictures which alone have value to a 
collector. Tliere are three, mainly in support of Captain Pier- 
son's bravery in fighting with an inferior force the fleet under 
Paul Jones — representing the Bon Homme Richard and Ser- 
apis locked in deadly embrace, while the Alliance under the 
Frenchman Landais is pouring her broadsides into the Serapis 
and Bon Homme Richard alike and the English fleet of mer- 
chant ships convoyed by the Serapis are finding safety in 
Carrickfergus. The lettering of this fine plate is in English 
and French to remind Frenchmen that while the Serapis was 
captured with her officers and crew, including Captain Pierson, 
his devotion to duty, against overwhelming odds, was recognized 
and the Baltic fleet of merchant ships saved. England made a 
hero of Captain Pierson, and he was as you all know knighted 
and became Sir Richard Pierson. After his release as prisoner 
of war, Jones sent him word that the next time he met him 
he would make a " Lord " of him. This print was pubUshed in 

1778. 

But I must not forget that I am not here to talk about this 
wonderful and attractive character. You will find it all so 
charmingly told in Buell's late publication that I apologize for 
any reference to him, outside of a collector's standpoint. 

The other great picture of the battle is a large engraving, 
almost of the same size, but with the Russian Coat of Arms in- 
troduced into the lettering, in English only. It is dedicated to 
the merchants trading with Russia and published in 1780. Both 
of these engravings are rare and form the basis of all the sub- 
sequent and multitudinous pictures of the contest. The latter 



348 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

is of extreme rarity. I have never seen or heard of a duplicate — 
somewhere in England will be found the oil paintings from 
which these engravings were made. 

I must close the Revolutionary naval talk with the remark 
that besides Barry, Jones and Conyngham, there is hardly one 
of the men who are mentioned in Cooper's Naval History as of 
this period, of whom I have not either a portrait, or an auto- 
graph letter or both, — officer or civilian — at home or abroad. 
Naturally enough throughout I have made no special objective 
of the Continental navy — altho' that would have been, had I 
known it, enough work and more than I contemplated at the 
outset. 

Passing through the period of idleness and really disorgani- 
zation of the navy immediately succeeding the cessation of hos- 
tilities, we come to the quasi war with France, in which figured 
conspicuously Commodore Barry, Commodore Truxtun, Com- 
modore Barney, Commodore Bainbridge and others. 

The books, manuscripts, prints, portraits and memorabilia 
are scarce, but all the more interesting on that account. There 
are many private letters of Truxtun, who wrote easily in good 
English, and was a voluminous correspondent. His handwrit- 
ing was in the expression of the day " elegant." I have dozens 
of his letters all having more or less reference to his exploits 
during the quasi war with France, also a number of the letters 
of Joshua Barney and Bainbridge, Barry and others, who figured 
at that period, with of course portraits and prints of the battles 
in which The Hyder Ally, General Monk, the LTnsurgente, Bos- 
ton and Berceau figured. There is also a lot of MSS. concern- 
ing the capture of Bainbridge in the Retaliation by the French 
squadron, his temporary imprisonment at Guadeloupe, all de- 
scribed in private letters of Bainbridge and in his correspond- 
ence with the governor of that island. 

The Tripolitan war follows, and forms one of the most inter- 
esting periods of our naval history, in which figured as young 
officers nearly all the men who subsequently, in the War of 1812, 
gained great renown for our service, and lasting honor for them- 
selves. Preble, Decatur, Hull, Bainbridge, Barron, Lawrence, 
Perry, Dent, Trippe, Somers, Biddle, Henley and numberless 
others — I cannot enumerate them. The war with Tripoli is 
filled with incidents which have formed subjects of much writing. 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 349 

both by the actors in the scenes themselves and by public offi- 
cials. In the collection will be found a great many autograph 
letters, original documents relating to them, as well as every 
obtainable print illustrating the capture and the recapture of 
the Philadelphia — the bombardments of Tripoli, the adven- 
tures of the Intrepid — scenes with the Bey of Algiers and the 
Sultan of Turkey, etc. The portraits are also complete or 
nearly so. The correspondence, including that of Bainbridge 
and the Danish Consul, Nissen, and the representative of the 
French Republic, under the dictatorship of Napoleon, who be- 
friended him and his fellow prisoners during Bainbridge's con- 
finement in the Barbary state prisons, some of the secret corres- 
pondence with Commodore Preble — all are found in the collec- 
tion — and would I am sure, could I dwell upon them, interest 
you. 

Indeed a complete history of this period has never been writ- 
ten more fully than in Cooper's History, where its features are 
sketched most hastily. I may say here that there is now held 
by Messrs. Dodd, Meade & Co. of New York, a collection of let- 
ters and documents relating more particularly to the war with 
Tripoli, comprising the private and public correspondence of 
Commodore Edward Preble. There are fifteen or twenty vol- 
umes of it, roughly but consecutively arranged, by being pasted 
into large blank books. They would be indispensable to any one 
undertaking to write the story of this period of our navy. It 
may give you some idea of the commercial value of such relics 
when you know that the owners, some descendants of the Com- 
modore, ask $10,000 for the papers. But it has been intimated 
to me that they could possibly be purchased for $7000. There 
are a great many individual letters and documents for which I 
would pay large sums, but the collection cannot be separated 
and is held as a whole — it should go into the public archives at 
Washington. 

Coming to the period embracing the War of 1812, the field 
for the naval collector is at once enlarged and expanded. Fol- 
lowing that war and during it, writers in England and America 
were busily engaged in writing histories of the War of 181 2, 
naval biographies, accounts of participants, discussions of causes, 
pamphlets, personal experiences, cruises of particular ships of 
war or squadrons, charges and counter-charges, relations of the 



350 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

several conspicuous battles which occurred, written by number- 
less actors who viewed them from different standpoints, all these 
publications appeared in print, here and in England and some- 
times in France, while artists and engravers on both sides illus- 
trated every prominent person and incident. It was not, thirty 
years ago, a difficult or costly work to collect the War of 1812. 
Every second-hand bookstore and print shop in London, New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere, had on its shelves 
old worn out, dilapidated, well thumbed and often badly printed 
books and prints relating to the subject. 

With each succeeding year the items became more rare and 
more expensive. Other collectors sprung up, the old books disap- 
peared and to-day I dare say that amongst the rarest of this 
past century's Americana will be books relating to the American 
navy and its exploits up to and including the War of 1812 and 
perhaps the Mexican War. 

I have referred to old, out of print books and their generally 
dilapidated condition — the bindings originally of the cheapest 
character — leaves dirty and stained, all have been handsomely 
rebound in crushed Levant, the texts cleaned and restored. 
There is not, I believe, a single officer or civilian, mentioned by 
Cooper connected with the War of 181 2, of whom I have not por- 
traits or letters, or both, not a single illustrated scene described 
by him of which I have not an impression. Searching through 
the shops in England I have often secured portraits of English 
commanders of the various ships with which our ships came 
into contact, and often their biographies, which has resulted in 
some most interesting discoveries of books, letters and prints. I 
wish I had time to particularize some of them. Of the more 
prominent naval commanders of the century, Hull, Decatur, 
Jacob Jones, Bainbridge, Lawrence, Rodgers, Chauncey, Mc- 
Donough, Biddle, Burrows, Perry, Morris, Stewart, Porter of 
Essex fame, Warrington, Percival, Read, Smith, Truxtun, Dale 
and many others, I have many portraits and many most interest- 
ing autograph letters, the latter all relating to their profession 
and exploits. Besides the portraits of the Naval War Com- 
mittees of the Continental Congress and their autographs, the 
collection includes the likeness and autograph of every Secre- 
tary of the Navy — ^not merely autographs, but letters written and 
signed by them, generally private, but upon subjects connected 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 351 

with the administration of naval affairs — but few that may be 
classed as public documents, or that have been printed in the 
public archives. 

I do not wish it to be understood that I have in any way ex- 
hausted the supply of such things — they are yet to be found by 
diligent and persistent search and watchfulness, and surprises 
come when least expected and they crop up in the most un- 
expected way and from most unexpected quarters. The de- 
mand and willingness of persons to pay for historical memor- 
abilia increases every year. There are hundreds of collectors all 
over the country where there was one, thirty years ago — of 
every relic of our nation's history — while the great libraries are 
the repositories forever of individual efforts and are constantly 
absorbing the rarest and most valuable. 

I may, however, congratulate myself that I have perhaps the 
largest and most interesting collection of books, manuscripts, 
autographs and prints relating to the old navy, for I believe I 
was the first one to devote himself specially to this special branch 
of Americana. 

To illustrate the eagerness of this general fever, and at the 
risk of wearying you with the subject, and of a charge of egoism, 
I will relate a circumstance of my personal experience. After 
graduating at the Naval Academy in 1854, I made cruises in the 
steam frigate San Jacinto, Captain Stribling, the sloop-of- 
war Saratoga, Captain Tilden, and the surveying steamer Arctic, 
Captain Berryman — in the last named, making the first line 
of deep sea soundings across the Atlantic from Trinity Bay, 
Newfoundland, to Valencia Bay, Ireland, in the interest of the 
contemplated first Atlantic cable. During all of these cruises, 
I kept, as required by the regulations, copies of the logs of the 
several ships, to present to the board of examiners, for my pro- 
motion to passed midshipman. On the return of the Arctic to 
New York, amidst the confusion arising from the sudden putting 
out of commission of the ship, during my temporary absence on 
shore, my log books were stolen, or lost. I was at once de- 
tached from the Arctic with orders to proceed to AnnapoHs and 
report to the board for my examination — all the surviving mem- 
bers of what was known as the advanced class of 185 1. Self ridge, 
Miller and Stribling were there. The first question propounded 
to me was a request to present my journals and letters from 



352 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

my commanding officers. I explained the reason of my ina- 
bility as to the journals or log books. Their disappearance was 
unaccountable and my excuse was not well received, particularly 
as Captain Stribling in his letter to the board while commend- 
ing my general conduct on the San Jacinto, called the attention 
of the board to the fact that I had failed to keep the log of the 
ship as required by the naval regulations. This I explained 
by the statement that I had not presented it to him, as he left 
the ship in charge of Lieut. Overton Carr, his executive, a week 
or more before the ship was put out of commission, and I had 
therefore presented my log book to Lieut. Carr, who had signed 
it " Examined and approved." Well, the board refused to ex- 
amine me and I had to go to Washington, see the Secretary of 
the Navy, make a formal statement in writing, use all the 
influence I could bring to bear and after some days of doubt and 
unhappiness, I secured an order from the Department directing 
my examination. I had, however, fortified my statements by a 
letter from Lieut. Carr, stating that he had seen, examined and 
approved of my log of the San Jacinto. My examination came 
off successfully and I received my warrant as passed midship- 
man in due course. Now you will naturally wonder why I 
should go into this trivial story, taking up your time and my 
own. Last March of this year I received a letter from a fellow 
collector, member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
calling my attention to the fact that in Professor Osgood's Cata- 
logue of the archives of the State of New York, just published 
by the Government Printing Bureau at Washington, appeared 
this item — " Journals of John Sanford Barnes, Midshipman in 
the Navy of the United States, of voyages made in the U. S. S. 
ships-of-war, San Jacinto, Saratoga, and Arctic, 1854, 1855-1856." 
So here in great dignity were my long lost log books, reposing 
amid the archives of my own State. 

The State archives are in charge of the Regents of the Univer- 
sity of the State of New York. To them I applied stating the 
circumstances, asking that the journals be restored to me; after 
much correspondence, and upon my offering in exchange some 
other material, these journals came back to me after forty-six 
years of disappearance. Upon investigation it was found that 
my journals were purchased from Henry Stevens in London 
over eight years ago, together with a lot of Americana, for 



NAVAL LITERATURE. 353 

which the State had paid the sum of $2500. Mr. Stevens was a 
noted collector ctnd dealer in matters relating to American his- 
tory and had resided for many years in London. He has joined 
the ranks of the great majority and I shall never know how he 
became possessed of these journals, dignified as " archives " 
during the lifetime of the writer of them! 

You may possibly imagine that the reading of Professor Os- 
good's archives, a copy of which, with some difificulty, I ob- 
tained, was somewhat like reading one's epitaph on one's own 
tombstone. Their interest to Mr. Stevens probably arose because 
they covered interesting items of American history — the Crimean 
War, the Ostend Conference and the laying of the first Atlantic 
cable. 

I must beg your pardon for this long, disjointed talk, but as 
I have said before Captain Chadwick is responsible for it. I 
put all the blame upon him and I beg for him your most indul- 
gent consideration. 

You may well ask what does all this fumbling with old papers 
amount to anyway? How are we to be instructed by it? What 
has the Naval War College to do with such past and gone mat- 
ters? We are interested in the present and future development 
of the new navy — monster guns, monstrous steelclad ships, swift 
protected cruisers, steam power, electric power, smokeless pow- 
der, rapid fire artillery, torpedoes, torpedo-boats and destroyers, 
naval problems and naval strategy; those old ships and old sail- 
ors are extinct as the ark with its navigators, they can teach 
us nothing. I can only say that they may be inspiring. I 
remember well that upon visiting the museum of the United 
Service institution in London, and again the army and navy 
exhibition at Earl's Court, I was overwhelmed by the grand 
collection of evidences of English prowess upon the sea, in the 
form of portraits, paintings, prints and manuscripts, captured 
flags, relics of famous men and famous battles of the British 
navy, among them the spoils of the Chesapeake and the President, 
which gave me a pang of regret and envy. 

Such an institute and such exhibitions may be impossible to 
us now, but we have made some histories creditable to the 
country and to our service, we are adding to it yearly, in the 
course of human events we are likely enough to add more to it. 
Scattered about the navy yards, and the Naval Academy and in 
23 



354 NAVAL LITERATURE. 

the Department at Washington and in private hands, in public 
museums and libraries, are the relics, monuments and trophies 
connected with the naval and military history of the past. They 
have no collective force and exercise no inspiring influence upon 
the people. Can they be brought together, classified and ar- 
ranged, somewhat in the form of the United Service Institution 
of England, or the Naval Record Society of Great Britain ? Those 
of us who have visited the great international exhibitions of recent 
years, know how the people flock about governmental exhibits, 
illustrating the progress in armaments and their manufacture. 
In London, in Paris, in Berlin, and in Vienna, and in St. Peters- 
burg, exist great historical collections of arms, and in their libra- 
ries classified collections of military and naval literature. Here 
we have no such purpose anywhere evident or anywhere sugges- 
ted. It is impossible without governmental interest and ex- 
penditure to approach within long gunshot of these foreign 
collections, but something might be done in this direction and 
that is a problem for the Naval College to think over, discuss 
and suggest, or to abandon as a matter beyond its scope. I can 
only say that were such a commencement made of a Naval or 
United Service Institution, or Naval Record Society, I would 
see that ultimately the results of my work as a collector of naval 
memorabilia should find a final resting place there. 

Of course the war records now being published by the Gov- 
ernment furnish every kind of official report of the war between 
the North and the South, but all such official reports are but dull 
reading compared with the private descriptions and personal 
experiences of prominent individuals, who were active particip- 
ants in the scenes of the war. Biographies and autobiographies 
of naval officers are needed, and it should be the object of a 
record society to stimulate, or induce such personal reminis- 
cences, particularly of those officers now on the retired list, who 
are passing away with all the treasures of their memories. 

The records of services of officers can always be found at the 
Department by any one having special interest and the industry 
to dig them out of the departmental files. They are seldom of 
use except perhaps to be referred to in a general way by officers 
in trouble. There have been several attempts to collate the 
records of officers, like Hammersley's record of the graduates 
of the Naval Academy; it is a cold, rigid formal memorandum of 



NAVAL LITERATURE, 355 

dates, commissions and orders of officers named. Hammers- 
ley probably found that as to living graduates his easiest and 
surest method was to apply to the officers themselves for inform- 
ation regarding their services and it shows the interest which 
officers probably take in the service that in response to his 
inquiries he received hundreds of letters from those he addressed 
giving briefly their autobiographies. He kept all these letters, 
filed them in some order in scrap books, and it may interest some 
here to know that I finally purchased these books and have 
of some, if not of many of you here present, your own estimates 
of your personal services in your own handwriting. Hammers- 
ley condensed these autobiographies and printed them in his 
book. It is imperfect. Indeed you may suppose that I do not 
estimate the publication highly, valuable as it is, as my own name 
does not appear in it! The scrap books however, are extremely 
valuable, and will become more so as years roll by. 

When I threw upon your president, Captain Chadwick, the 
responsibility of appearing before you, it was with the intention 
of sitting amongst you and having a quiet and informal chat 
about the old navy, but when I came to think of it, I found that 
I might ramble on interminably on my hobby-horse, until your 
patience gone, you would politely cough me down and shut me 
up. So I thought it best to condense my remarks by writing out 
and reading them to you. I fear that learned as you are in pro- 
cesses of condensation, you'll find these hastily brought together 
and tedious recitals rather of the triple expansion order. 

In conclusion I may be permitted to say that I have written 
this ill prepared talk entirely from memory, separated from my 
library and collections, with very grave doubts as to its interest, 
except perhaps to those curious in such matters. 







PROCEEDINGS 

OP THE 

a S. NAVAL INSTITUTE 
Number 106 



t 














• " * *^^ 










'b V 



•^''?^ 



*^ ' . . • 




















' . . « ' 















^<0 ' 



:^' 



c 









- ^ ' • • ^ 






o • , %5> 






^^ ''^^ 






•:*•. * . 












^ 






DEC 88 



^.ffT^^^ 



4 > - 1 • • . 



V) 



.^^ 




i!l!iif i iilliif iill»^^^^^^^ 
iisSiiPliii 



